Stavropol

Stavropol is an ancient city located in the North Caucasus. 1777 is considered a year Stavropol was founded as a fortress on the southern boundaries of Russia under the decree of Empress Ekaterina II. «Stavropol» is a Russian rendition of a Greek name “Stavropoulos” meaning «City of the Cross». There is a legend that soldiers have found a huge cross made of stone when they were building the fortress in the future city location.

Today the city of Stavropol is a large administrative, industrial, agricultural, scientific and cultural center of the North Caucasus with a number of historical monuments, museums, libraries, sport facilities, concert halls, hotels, supermarkets, and restaurants of national kitchen. For the religiously inclined people, the city has some Orthodox churches, and a Mosque.

Stavropol is a students’ city. There are more than 30 higher educational institutions where more than 90 thousand students are trained.

With the abundance of trees and flowers in the streets, parks and squares, Stavropol is among the greenest cities in Russia today, and is called the “Gate of Caucasus”.

The Botanical Garden of Stavropol is a museum of living plants; it has spread over a territory of 18 hectares, 16 of them being natural woods. The whole year round visitors may come and enjoy the sights and the scent of exotic flowers in blossom. Favorable climatic conditions, adjacent cities-resorts: Pyatigorsk, Kislovodsk, Essentuki, Zheleznovodsk have become the leading Russian resorts accepting annually more than 650 000 Russian citizens as well as foreign ones. The location of the Caucasus Mineral Waters resort is so peculiar that it will take you only a day to travel to such a famous Caucasus highland as Preelbrusye, Dombaiand Arkhyz by coach. The cable cars will take you at 3000 and more meters above the sea level to see the shiny everlasting snows and glaciers of the highest European mountain Elbrus.

Stavropol is connected by air, railway and road to Moscow and other cities of Russia. There is an international airport in the city of Mineralnye Vody about 180 km away, 2 hours by bus.